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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

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BOLSHEVIK PROPAGANDA 



US 



REPORT ON 
HEARINGS 



BEFORE A 

SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE 
COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY 
UNITED STATES SENATE 

SIXTY-FIFTH CONGRESS 

SECOND AND THIRD SESSIONS 
PURSUANT TO 

S. RES. 314 

A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING AND DIRECTING THE 
COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY TO CALL FOR 
CERTAIN EVIDENCE AND DOCUMENTS RE- 
LATING TO CHARGES MADE AGAINST 
BOLSHEVIK PROPAGANDA 



124529—19552 



WASHINGTON 
1919 



V ' » >- 

TSr^. Edwin C- Oinw 




3 



KEPOKT ON HEARINGS 

BEFORE A 

Subcommittee of the Committee on the Judiciary, 
United States Senate, 

ON 

SENATE RESOLUTION 314. 



BOLSHEVISM. 

On the 4th day of February, 1919, the Senate adopted the 
following resolution, No. 436, and in pursuance to the directions 
therein contained your committee proceeded to make the in- 
quiry requested, and the testimony taken by your committee is 
contained in the printed record, entitled " Bolshevik propa- 
ganda," which is herewith transmitted. 

Resolved, That the authority of the Committee on the Judiciary con- 
ferred by S. Res. 307 be, and the same hereby is, extended so as to in- 
clude the power and duty to inquire concerning any efforts being made 
to propagate in this country the principles of any party exercising or 
claiming to exercise authority in Russia, whether such efforts originate 
in this country or are incited or financed from abroad, and, further, 
to inquire into any -effort to incite the overthrow of the Government or 
this country or all government by force, or by the destruction of life 
•or property, or the general cessation of industry. 

In order to determine the possible connection and relation be- 
tween the principles of government advocated by those claim- 
ing to exercise authority in Russia and the several activities 
now being carried on in the United States it was deemed essen- 
tial that a careful inquiry be made to determine the exact na- 
ture of the so-called principles of government now being ap- 
plied in Russia. The record includes the constitution and a 
compilation of many of the so-called laws in force in Russia, 
from which the nature of the paper government can be deter- 
mined and the testimony of many eyewitnesses of the attempted 
application of this paper government discloses the character and 
nature of the actual government in practical operation. The in- 
vestigation which your committee has conducted convinces it 
that few of either the advocates or opponents, in this country, 
of the present Russian Socialist Federal Soviet Republic are 
familiar with the fundamental principles upon which this gov- 
ernment is attempting to perpetuate itself. Consequently the 
agitation growing out of developments in Russia has largely 
degenerated into appeals to the prejudices and the animosities 
that are inherent in the selfish natures of most individuals, and 
little or no appeal has been made to the intelligence of the 
people. 

It is therefore not surprising that the word " Bolshevism " has 
now become merely a generic term, and in America is nothing 
more than a slogan of the elements of unrest and discontent. 

By reason of their ignorance as to what Bolshevism as a code 
of political and social morals in Russia means, almost every dis- 
124529—19552 3 



4 



satisfied element, from the radical anarchist to the theoretical 
idealist, has seized upon it as approaching something of a 
Utopian nature. It is interesting to note that every witness 
called before your committee as a champion of the cause of the 
principles of the Russian Socialist Federal Soviet Republic ad- 
mitted that he' or she had never read the constitution of the 
government of which he was the champion. 

The word " Bolshevism " has been so promiscuously applied 
to various political and social programs that we feel that it is 
of paramount importance that the delusions and misconceptions 
as to what it really is as it exists to-day in Russia should be, as 
far as possible, removed, and that the people of the United States 
should be thoroughly informed as to just what this much-dis- 
cussed institution really is, both in theory and in practice. 

Your committee is of the opinion that the best answer that 
can be given to the argument of the champions of this Rus- 
sian institution is a true explanation of its real nature and the 
actual principles upon which it is founded as ' well as the 
unavoidable consequences that would follow its adoption. The 
word " Bolshevik " is the name of the party that controls the 
Russian Socialist Federal Soviet Republic and that dictated 
its constitution. We are, therefore, justified in using this name 
to identify the constitution which it dictated and in accepting 
that constitution and the laws that have been prescribed under 
it as the platform and program of Bolshevism. 

The following are a few of the fundamental facts descrip- 
tive of Bolshevism and the form and character of the gov- 
ernment established and operated by the Bolsheviki in Russia 
under the name of the " Russian Socialist Federal Soviet 
Republic." 

It is the dictatorship of a class and is not a democratic form 
of government. In its actual application it has become an 
autocracy of a few individuals, who exercise their authority 
and suppress all opposition by fear, terrorism, and force. It 
has developed into as much of an autocracy, though more cruel 
in its methods, as the monarchial government of the Czar's 
regime. Under the provisional government of Kerensky an 
effort was made to establish a democracy and to inaugurate a 
socialistic state under that form of government. With a view 
to establishing such a democratic government the provisional 
government, on July 22, 1917, ordered the election of the con- 
stituent assembly to be voted for by all of the people of Russia 
on September 30, 1917. Prior to this time general elections in 
Russia on an equal suffrage basis were unheard of, and it 
therefore became necessary for the provisional government to 
create the necessary election machinery and to secure a com- 
plete and impartial registration of the newly created elec- 
torate. The difficulties encountered in this undertaking made 
it necessary in August to postpone the election of the con- 
stituent assembly from the 30th of September to the 25th of 
November. This postponement was seized upon by the Bolshe- 
viki as raising an issue through which they could attack the 
provisional government, and they charged that government 
with having an ulterior purpose in directing this postponement. 

In raising this issue they appealed to the people to rise in 
defense of a democratic form of government by overthrowing 
the provisional government and securing for themselves thereby, 

124529 — 19552 



5 



through the Bolshevik party, the benefits and advantages of a 
democracy and the election of a constituent assembly as an in- 
strument which would make possible the establishment of a 
constitution based upon the equality of man and secure to all 
Russian citizens equal participation in the affairs of govern- 
ment. With this issue, among others, the Bolshevik party over- 
threw the provisional government in the October revolution 
and immediately issued a decree (Exhibit 1, appendix of record 
of hearing) ordering "that the elections to the constituent 
assembly shall be held on November 25, the day set aside for 
this purpose " by the provisional government and ordering that 
the freedom of the ballot should be adequately safeguarded. 
At the appointed time the constituent assembly was elected, and 
a canvass of the personnel of that assembly established the over- 
whelming defeat of the Bolshevik party and the supremacy of 
other socialist parties, whereupon the attitude of the Bolsheviki 
toward the constituent assembly underwent a complete change, 
and from that time their antagonism toward a constituent 
assembly, universal equal suffrage, and a democratic form of 
government has been manifested in every official act of the gov- 
ernment and in the actual application of that government to the 
several activities of the nation. 

In the original call for the election of the constituent assem- 
bly December 12, 1917, had been fixed as the time of its meet- 
ing. It was not, however, until January, 1918, that the Bol- 
shevik autocracy permitted the constituent assembly to convene. 
When it did meet the Bolshevik party submitted to this repre- 
sentative body for adoption a set of resolutions denouncing the 
election at which it was elected, repudiating itself as representa- 
tive of the electorate, whose commission it held, and declaring 
that there was no proper function for it to perform in the 
proposed new government of the Russian nation. (Exhibit 16, 
appendix.) As might well have been expected, the constituent 
assembly declined to pass this resolution, whereupon the Bol- 
shevik members withdrew and the constituent assembly was 
forcibly dispersed by the Red Guard and a democratic form of 
government was lost to the Russian people. In its place has 
arisen the dictatorship of the small minority — headed by Lenin 
and Trotski. 

Lenin, president of the Soviet of People's Commissaries, 
frankly admits this in the following words : 

Just as 150,000 lordly landowners dominated the 180,000,000 of Rus- 
sian peasants, so 200,000 members of the Bolshevik party are imposing 
their proletarian will on the mass. * * * 

Nor is this dictatorship the result of a usurpation of power 
on the part of the officials of the Bolsheviki, but it is the recog- 
nized foundation upon which the whole governmental structure 
is erected, as is evidenced by paragraph 9 of the Bolshevik 
constitution, which provides as follows : 

The principal aim of the constitution of the Russian Socialist Federal 
Soviet Republic in the present transitory period is to establish the 
dictatorship of the city and rural proletariat and of the poorest ele- 
ments of the peasantry in the form of a powerful all-Russian soviet 
government for the purpose of completely suppressing the capitalistic 
class. * * * 

[Note. — Under Bolshevism, the capitalistic class includes all persons 
who do not perform manual labor for a livelihood or who employ any 
person in their business or who own any property or receive any income, 
no matter how small the amount. The words " parasitic class " and 
41 bourgeoise " are popularly used by the Bolsheviki as synonymous with 
*' capitalistic cla^s."] 
124529 — 19552 



It is perhaps difficult to realize that it has been possible to 
perpetuate a dictatorship of such a small minority through the 
nifiny months which have passed since it came into power. 
Without some understanding of the nature and character of the 
actual activities of the Bolsheviki the casual observer would 
be persuaded that the tyranny of this autocracy would in a 
short time bring down upon its head the wrath of the majority,, 
who with reasonable effort would have no difficulty in over- 
throwing the usurpers. A study of the actual methods and 
practices of the dictatorship, however, clearly establishes the 
helplessness of the great mass of the Russian populace. The 
Bolsheviki have inaugurated a reign of terror unparalleled in the 
history of modern civilization, in many of its aspects rivaling 
even the inhuman savagery of the Turk and the terrors of the 
French Revolution. Under the evidence your committee has 
been compelled to impose the responsibility for this terrorism 
upon the government itself rather than attribute it merely to 
the excesses of individuals and groups undisciplined and un- 
trained in the personal liberty acquired by them With the over- 
throwing of the centralized autocratic government of the 
old monarchistic regime. Terrorism and excesses in a State 
are either attributable to the encouragement of the State 
or to the weakness and inability of the State to restrain the 
same. In Bolshevik Russia every instrument available for the 
exercise of force and power is in the possession of that gov- 
ernment, and those opposed to the government or who fail to 
render it whole-hearted support are completely suppressed and 
absolutely powerless. The government is more highly cen- 
tralized and less restricted in the exercise of that centralized 
power than was the government of the Czar. The agencies used 
by the dictators in imposing their will upon the masses are less 
restrained and restricted in the exercise of their power by 
law, custom, or humanity than were the agencies utilized by 
the old regime. Economic domination unheard of and un- 
sought in the past has been seized upon and usurped by the 
dictatorship. 

All these facts negative the suggestion of the existence of a 
degree of weakness which makes the Government impotent to 
exercise the necessary restraint. On the Contrary, every act of 
terrorism is justified by the affirmative pronouncement of the 
Bolshevik government, either through its constitution and laws 
or the authoritative utterances of its officials. The government 
is founded upon class hatred ; its avowed purpose is the exter- 
mination of all elements of society that are opposed to or are 
capable of opposing the Bolshevik party. " Merciless suppres- 
sion " and " extermination " of all classes except the present 
governing class are familiar slogans of the Bolsheviki, and con- 
fiscation is adopted as an essential instrument in the govern- 
mental formula. As a guaranty of its perpetuation in power, its- 
underlying policy is that " the end justifies the means," and in 
the application of this policy the government denies the existence 
of any inalienable right in the Russian citizen, and respects 
neither the right to life, liberty, or property. In its so-called 
declaration of rights, the government adopts a policy which it 
hopes will result in " the destruction of the parasitic classes of 
society," and as an aid to this end has decreed as an essential 
part of its fundamental law the principle of arming one class 
and disarming another, with a view of making the extermination 
124529—19552 



7 



and destruction more effective. In practice, this government 
has classified all of those people who fail to sympathize with 
and support the existing dictatorship as the bourgeoisie, and has 
proclaimed the doctrine that their refusal to bow to the edict of 
the dictatorship should be answered by " violence toward the 
bourgeoisie." A careful survey of the innumerable acts of vio- 
lence and terrorism committed in Russia will fail to disclose 
scarcely a single offense that has not been participated in either 
by their Red Guard, by Commissars, or by others having an 
official and governmental status. 

The dictatorship, utilizing Lettish troops and Chinese labor- 
ers, as well as to some extent German and Austrian prisoners 
and criminals discharged from the jails as its so-called Red 
Guard to enforce its decrees, promptly secured possession and 
control of: 

(a) All arms and ammunition. 

(b) Practically all foodstuffs and commodities essential to 
the maintenance of life. 

(c) All clothing and household goods necessary for warmth 
and health. 

(d) All gold, silver, and specie, including jewelry, ornaments, 
gold and silver plate. 

This was accomplished by means of confiscation followed by 
the nationalization and monopolizing by the State of all com- 
mercial, industrial, and financial enterprises. Having secured 
possession of all of these instruments of physical and economic 
power and domination, this dictatorship was enabled to enforce 
the submission of most of the population to its will. The rank 
and file of the people of Russia had no other choice. They could 
not resist or oppose the Bolsheviki with force, as they were with- 
out firearms and without ammunition. They could not refuse to 
obey its dictates else they would be starved to death. They 
could not defy the dictators, as they would be left without rai- 
ment. They could not sustain life with money possessing an in- 
trinsic value, for they had none, and thousands have been 
starved to death and murdered as a result of this regime. 

Possessing, therefore, every instrument necessary for the 
exercise of the forcible persuasion of the populace, it became 
expedient to reinforce the dictatorship with an increased man 
power. Recognizing the state of the public mind, it was neces- 
sary to guard against betrayal by those who were drafted into 
the service of the State, and the most effective weapons selected 
to secure the faithful execution of the will of the dictators 
were fear, terrorism, and a system of hostages. By this system 
of hostages the relatives, family, and loved ones of the drafted 
subject were held as prisoners, their food supply, their clothing, 
even their lives, depending upon the fidelity with which the dic- 
tatorship was supported and its orders executed. 

Having professed an adherence to the democratic form of gov- 
ernment to assist in securing control of Russia, the Bolsheviki, 
in establishing its paper government, sought to maintain its 
dictatorship under color of a representative political system. 
A recognition of the democratic principle that all men are cre- 
ated equal, however, would have necessitated the equal partici- 
pation of all citizens in the affairs of government. Such uni- 
versal participation in political affairs would have made impos- 
sible a dictatorship of the minority, but would inherently have 
been a rule of the majority and have accomplished just what 
124529—19552 



6 



the dissolution of the constituent assembly was intended to pre- 
vent. The following" of the Bolshevik government being more 
numerous in the cities, and these by reason of their concentra- 
tion within more restricted territorial limits being more readily 
led and dominated, it was prescribed by constitutional direction 
that representation from cities in the government should be five 
times as great as the representation from the provincial dis- 
tricts. In other words, representation from cities is in the 
ratio of 1 to every 25,000 of the population, while from the rural 
districts and the territory of the peasants, who constitute a 
large percentage of the Russian population, representation is 
1 to every 125,000 of the population. Even this discrimination 
did not adequately safeguard the domination of the Bolshevik 
minority. Disfranchisement of large groups of the population 
was necessary. By constitutional provision they denied the 
right to participate in the government and disfranchised the 
following classes : 

(a) All persons employing others in connection with the 
conduct of their business. 

(b) All persons receiving interest, rents, dividends, or an 
income from financial or industrial enterprises. 

(c) All merchants, traders, and dealers. 

(d) All clergymen, priests, and employees of churches and 
religious bodies. 

(e) Certain persons connected with the Czar's government, 
persons mentally afflicted, and persons convicted of certain 
crimes against the Bolshevik government. 

Even with these restrictions upon suffrage, the Bolshevik 
government has refused to undertake the election of a constitu- 
ent assembly. The elections that are permitted are conducted 
under supervision of the Red Guard, and local bodies or Soviets 
that are not satisfactory to the dictatorship are removed, and 
in some instances so-called commissars or officials of unques- 
tioned loyalty to the government are imported from the cities 
to govern the affairs of the political unit (the local soviet) 
sought to be dominated according to the Bolshevik faith. 

Confiscation on a wholesale scale has been used as a means 
of undertaking to create and maintain tangible assets that 
could be used as the economic foundation upon which could be 
built the industrial and financial superstructure of the Bolshe- 
vik state. By constitutional edict and by a series of decrees 
issued by the dictatorship all land, forests, and natural re- 
sources of Russia have been confiscated by the government in 
order that the Bolshevik government may become the landlord 
of the entire population and exercise the control incident thereto. 
Where a man shall live and toil and till the soil is determined 
by the State and the right to determine the nature and extent 
of each man's domicile, and the power to compel the migra- 
tion of the peasant from the locality of his birth or adoption, 
even to the extent of separating families as the population of 
the various communities expands or contracts, is exercised by 
the Bolshevik government through the laws which it has de- 
creed for the control of the people. 

The alleged purpose of the seizure of land by the government 
was that the right to the land might be transferred to the rank 
and file of the people of Russia in order that the individual 
Russian peasant might become the unrestrained and unrestricted 
architect of his own future economic development, but the 

124529—19552 



9 



methods adopted by the Bolsheviki have merely transferred the 
landlordship from the large landowners, and in many instances 
from the peasant groups themselves, to the Bolshevik govern- 
ment, and the present control by that government is not con- 
fined to the land itself, as was the control of the landowners 
under the old regime, but extends as well to the persons and 
even the tools, implements, and products of the peasants. The 
aged and infirm are deprived of all right to utilize and enjoy 
during their declining years the soil their efforts may have en- 
riched, because their physical strength makes them powerless 
to perform all of the labor incident to its full cultivation. 
They, thereupon, become mere pensioners of the State. This 
system guarantees to the peasant only the present enjoyment 
of a given piece of land, and consequently only warrants him 
in so utilizing the beneficence of the State in according him the 
right to use the same as to insure the maximum present pro- 
duction to the exclusion of a scientific development that will 
enure to future advantage. In other words, an uncertain tenure 
is naturally accompanied by an exploitation rather than by a 
systematic development of the leasehold interest. Under this 
system, the peasant can never become the owner of the land 
he tills or of any other land. To aid in the system and to estab- 
lish a larger control of peasant activities by the government the 
principle of confiscation has also been invoked in the case of 
all live stock and all agricultural implements, and as a conse- 
quence these essential instruments of land, cultivation, these 
chattels necessary to the production of both meat and vegetable 
foodstuffs have become, without regard to the rights of former 
owners or the advantage to the individual of future ownership 
therein, the property of the Bolshevik government, and the only 
right thereto that the peasant can in the future acquire is a 
use upon such terms and conditons as the government may pre- 
scribe. 

As may well be expected, there seems to be much difficulty in 
determining the manner in which this policy is being carried 
into actual operation, and it is apparent that only by the ap- 
plication of arbitrary methods can the already existing articles 
in these categories be made useful to any portion of the peasant 
population or be adequately protected and maintained so as 
to preserve their value. It is also interesting to contemplate, 
but dubious to predict, how meat-food products can under this 
system be maintained at a sufficient quantity to sustain life. 

The thrift, industry, perseverance, and intelligence which has 
enabled a portion of the Russian people in the past to acquire 
and save money has also been penalized by the confiscation of 
all banks -and banking institutions and their transformation 
into a state monopoly. 

Confiscation under the milder term of nationalization has 
eliminated from all industrial establishments such as factories, 
mills, and mines the business acumen and scientific methods 
necessary to successful operation and competitive methods. The 
absolute control of their operation and management is placed 
in the hands of the employees. This has been followed by the 
stagnation of the industrial life of the country, and even those 
nationalized industries which have been able to operate under 
government control have operated at an enormous percentage 
of loss, the deficiencies being met from the unlimited issue of 
fiat paper money printed by the government. The nationaliza- 

124529 — 19552 2 



10 



tion of the enterprises essential to the production and delivery 
of raw materials has so handicapped their production as to re- 
strict the quantity of raw materials available for the mainte- 
nance of industrial enterprises, and the whole economic condi- 
tion of Russia has made it impossible to secure relief from 
foreign sources. These industrial conditions can only continue 
so long as the government can succeed in monopolizing the 
means of subsistence, maintain an adequate military force to 
enforce the decrees of the dictatorship, and force the recogni- 
tion of worthless fiat paper money as the basis of its financial 
system. 

As the economic formula of the Bolsheviki prescribes the con- 
fiscation of the property rights of others, likewise it proclaims 
the doctrine of the repudiation of financial obligations, and the 
debts of Russia have been renounced. Repudiation is also in- 
voked to secure the government against the incumbrances upon 
and liabilities of the property and assets of the enterprises, land 
and chattels seized by it under its confiscation program. This 
repudiation also aided materially in suppressing and extermi- 
nating the creditor class, which naturally constitutes a part of 
the element that the Bolsheviki are pleased to call the bour- 
geoisie, or capitalistic class, by depriving them of the right and 
ability to recover and utilize the earnings, savings, and accumu- 
lations of the past. As it affected them it was a form of confis- 
cation. Repudiation is therefore a consistent accompaniment 
of confiscation and an essential element in the process of destruc- 
tion. The financial condition of the dictatorship, however, re- 
quired the adoption of some constructive policy that would 
finance it. It was necessary to maintain at least a color of 
legitimacy, an appearance of honest business methods, in sup- 
porting its so-called red army and in securing control of the 
articles necessary to sustain life. Further than that it was de- 
sirable to devise ways and means by which service in the red 
army and employment in nationalized enterprises might appear 
sufficiently attractive, and at the same time give an appearance 
of prosperity to the government itself, in order that hope as 
well as fear might assist in maintaining the Bolshevik govern- 
ment. The policy adopted was the printing of unlimited 
amounts of fiat paper money unsecured by any reserve. This 
naturally furnished to the government a cash capital limited 
only by the capacity of the printing presses of the government, 
which, in turn, had been confiscated and nationalized. Already 
it is estimated that a sum in excess of 30.000,000,000 rubles has 
been put into circulation. This has created a ridiculously in- 
flated circulating medium of no material value to the public, but 
of enforced value to the government. 

The populace are compelled to accept this paper money from 
the Bolshevik dictatorship, but can secure little for it in transac- 
tions between one another. Barter and exchange have, there- 
fore, become the only satisfactory means of conducting commer- 
cial transactions, and the breakdown in the industrial life and 
transportation facilities of the country has made practically im- 
possible the bringing together in the same community of the ar- 
ticles of trade and commerce necessary to the health, comfort, 
and life of the various elements of society. In consequence, 
many Russians are faced with starvation while possessing large 
sums of the money of the government that, in their extremity, 
124529—19552 



11 



avails them nothing. There can be no permanence to a govern- 
ment whose financial system is founded upon such a method. 

The destruction of all effective military and naval power and 
the removal of the leadership of capable officers was essential 
to the establishment of a powerful dictatorship as well as to 
the complete abandonment of the eastern front during the war. 
By the safe conduct of Lenin from Switzerland through the 
German Empire into Russia, regardless of the question as to 
whether he and his confreres were financed, as seems probable, 
in their revolutionary undertaking by the German Government, 
an obligation was incurred to demoralize and destroy the exist- 
ing Russian Army which had been more or less effectively main- 
taining the eastern front. How completely this was accom- 
plished is now history. They promptly decreed in their so- 
called declaration of rights that " the soldiers and sailors are 
liberated from the power of autocratic generals, because the 
generals will now be elected and they may be removed." All 
titles and degrees of rank and the authority incident to supe- 
riority were annulled and discipline was discontinued. Instan- 
taneously the army and navy degenerated into a mere mob with 
every soldier a law unto himself. Demobilization was directed 
and the demoralization was completed. The organization of the 
Red Army was undertaken around the nucleus which the Lettish 
troops and sailors in the Red Guard of the October revolution 
provided. 

By similar means the organization of the Red Fleet was un- 
dertaken. Chinese laborers without other means of subsistence 
were easily enlisted. The opportunity that service in the Red 
Army and Red Fleet afforded for pilfering and looting under 
color of authorized confiscation presented a sufficient invitation 
to the lawless and criminal elements that had become con- 
spicuous through the opening of the doors of prisons by the 
Bolsheviki to join those bodies and participate in the confisca- 
tion and seizure that were a part of the program of terror, fear, 
extermination, and destruction upon which the Bolshevik gov- 
ernment had entered. The food and clothing situation was des- 
perate, and the government had acquired, through the applica- 
tion of its formula, a generous supply and was using its Red 
Guard to gain a monopoly. In consequence, the one reasonably 
certain way of gaining a livelihood was by affiliating with the 
Red Army. This brought into the Bolshevik fold many people 
who otherwise would have been condemned to starve. Host- 
ages were held by the government to compel the submission of 
those who might otherwise have been recalcitrant. Thus a 
Red Army and a Red Fleet has been created, and they are 
charged with the execution of the decrees of the dictatorship 
and the sentences of the so-called courts or revolutionary tri- 
bunals, and they are afforded a large degree of personal discre- 
tion in the exercise of duties which practically constitute a 
rule of martial law. 

Repudiating the doctrine of all radical revolutionary groups 
throughout the world that have claimed for the individual of 
all lands the right of conscientious objection for religious or 
other reason against the bearing of arms and the participation 
in armed conflicts, the Bolsheviki have adopted as the- essential 
safeguard of their political fabric compulsory military service. 
As Prussianism found it essential to world domination by the 
autocracy of the Hohenzollerns, so Bolshevism seized upon it 
124529—19552 



12 



as the mainstay that would weather its autocracy of the dicta- 
torship through its campaign of confiscation and repudiation. 

All of the established courts and judicial institutions have 
been abolished and in their place have been created revolution- 
ary tribunals. Under the dictatorship these new judicial tribu- 
nals disregard all laws that " contradict the revolutionary con- 
ception of right." In actual operation these revolutionary tri- 
bunals have tried and condemned men in their absence. No right 
to bail is recognized and the penalty imposed depends largely 
upon the caprice of the court. The death penalty, the reestab- 
lishment of which under the provisional government was vo- 
ciferously denounced by the Bolsheviki, has been invoked for 
all sorts of crimes and misdemeanors. In fact, the procedure 
in the courts is a mere travesty on justice and most summary 
in its nature. 

Every activity of the Bolshevik government indicates clearly 
the antipathy of the Bolsheviki toward Christianity and the 
Christian religion. Its program is a direct challenge to that 
religion. The Christian church and Bolshevism can not both 
survive the program that is being developed by the Russian 
dictatorship and which it is undertaking to extend throughout 
the world. Not only have rhey confiscated all church property, 
real and personal, but they have established the right of anti- 
religious propaganda as a constitutionally recognized institu- 
tion. Church and school have been divorced even to the extent 
of suppressing the Sunday school and the teaching of all re- 
ligious doctrines in public, either in schools or educational in- 
stitutions of any kind, is expressly forbidden. Religion can 
only be taught or studied privately. All church and religious 
organizations are prohibited from owning property of any kind. 
All recognition of a Supreme Being in both governmental and 
judicial oaths is abolished. The clergy and all servants or em- 
ployees of church bodies are expressly disfranchised and de- 
prived of all right to hold public positions. The full significance 
of the attitude of the Bolsheviki toward Christianity is most fully 
manifested in the fact that, though by Russian custom and de- 
cree under the old regime, every newspaper or periodical pub- 
lished on Easter Sunday in the Russian Empire was required 
to carry the headline, " Christ is risen," on Easter Sunday in 
1918, all Bolshevik papers substituted for this sacred sentiment 
the headline and slogan, " One hundred years ago to-day Karl 
Marx was born." Thus the issue has been framed between the 
gospel of Karl Marx and the teachings of Christ. We reiterate, 
therefore, that Bolshevism and the Christian religion can not 
both survive. 

Bolshevism accords to the family no such sacred place in so- 
ciety as modern civilization accords to it. Conflicting reports 
have been passing current during the last few months relative 
to the nationalization of women by the new Russian Govern- 
ment. Two or three local Soviets have apparently thus de- 
graded the womanhood of their particular districts, but the 
central government has refrained from adopting any such pol- 
icy ie the whole nation. They have, however, promulgated de- 
cree's relating to marriage and divorce which practically estab- 
lishes a -state of free love. Their effect has been to furnish a 
vehicle for the legalization of prostitution by permitting the 
annullment of the marriage bonds at the whim of the parties, 

124529—19552 



13 



recognizing their collusive purposes as a ground for the sev- 
erance of the matrimonial state. 

The freedom of the press and of speech, though heralded by 
the advocates of Bolshevism as necessary to the intelligent par- 
ticipation of the people in popular government, has been abro- 
gated in Russia, and by the usual confiscatory method of the 
accepted formula all of the mechanical devices and materials 
necessary for the publication of periodicals and all places of 
meeting and public assemblage have been seized by the Bolshevik 
government. 

To make the control more complete and effective the publica- 
tion of all advertisements, whether in regularly published 
periodicals or on handbills or programs, is made a monopoly 
of the government. As a consequence the people of Russia are 
deprived of all facts, literature, and public expression, through 
the medium of the press or public meetings, except such as is 
approved by the dictatorship and has been passed by its cen- 
sorship. 

In the attempted establishment of an educational system it is 
to be expected that much difficulty would arise because of the 
large percentage of illiteracy that afflicts Russia, and it is not 
surprising that this system is largely on paper and of little 
practical value. It is interesting to note, however, that under 
this system age rather than attainment determines the admissi- 
bility of the student to a given school or grade, and that to re- 
quire the production of evidence of the qualification of a student 
for such admission is a criminal offense. This again reflects the 
Bolshevik theory that equalization can be accomplished by dic- 
tatorial decrees. 

The apparent purpose of the Bolshevik government is to make 
the Russian citizen, and especially the women and children, the 
wards and dependents of that government. Not satisfied with 
the degree of dependency incurred by the economic and indus- 
trial control assumed by its functionaries, it has destroyed the 
natural ambition and made impossible of accomplishment the 
moral obligation of the father to provide, care for, and ade- 
quately protect the child of his blood and the mother of that 
child against the misfortunes of orphanhood and widowhood. 
To accomplish this it has by decree expressly abolished and pro- 
hibited all right of inheritance, either by law or will. Upon 
death all of the decedent's estate is confiscated by the State, 
and all heirs who are physically incapable of working become 
pensioners of the State to the extent that the assets confiscated 
by the government make such pensions possible. 

Insurance of all kinds has been nationalized, the assets of 
insurance, companies confiscated, and the business of insuring 
life, property, accident, old age, and unemployment made a 
State monopoly. In the attempted liquidation of existing com- 
panies and associations the liquidating representatives of the 
government seem only concerned in securing possession and 
record of all of their assets and fail to recognize the propriety 
of accurately adjusting their liabilities. As a consequence, those 
insured and the beneficiaries under existing policies find them- 
selves without the protection for which they have been paying 
premiums. 

There has been much discussion with reference to the policy 
and motive of the associated Governments in landing troops on 

124529—19552 



14 



Russian soil. It is interesting to note that the combined mili- 
tary force at Archangel was landed at the solicitation and re- 
quest of the established and de facto government of the north- 
ern Provinces of Russia to aid that government in protecting its 
citizenship from the murder, cruelty, and confiscation of the 
approaching Red Army of the Bolshevik government. 

The salient features which constitute the program of Bolshe- 
vism, as it exists to-day in Russia and is presented to the rest 
of the world as a panacea for all ills, may be summarized as 
follows : 

(1) The repudiation of democracy and the establishment of a 
dictatorship. 

(2) The confiscation of all land and the improvements 
thereon. 

(3) The confiscation of all forests and natural resources. 

(4) The confiscation of all live stock and all agricultural im- 
plements. 

(5) The confiscation of all banks and banking institutions and 
the establishment of a State monopoly of the banking business. 

(6) The confiscation of all factories, mills, mines, and indus- 
trial institutions and the delivery of the control and operation 
thereof to the employees therein. 

(7) The confiscation of all churches and all church property, 
real and personal. 

(8) The confiscation of all newspapers and periodicals and all 
mechanical facilities and machinery used in the publication 
thereof. 

(9) The seizure and confiscation of all public meeting places 
and assembly halls. 

(10) The confiscation of all transportation and communication 
systems. 

(11) The confiscation of the entire estate of all decedents. 

(12) The monopolizing by the State of all advertisements of 
every nature, whether in newspapers, periodicals, handbills, 
or programs. 

(13) The repudiation of all debts against the government and 
all obligations due the non-Bolshevik elements of the popula- 
tion. 

(14) The establishment of universal compulsory military 
service regardless of religious scruples and conscientious objec- 
tions. 

(15) The establishment of universal compulsory labor. 

(16) The abolition of the Sunday school and all other schools 
and institutions that teach religion. 

(17) The absolute separation of churches and schools. 

(18) The establishment, through marriage and divorce laws, 
of a method for the legalization of prostitution, when the same 
is engaged in by consent of the parties. 

(19) The refusal to recognize the existence of God in its 
governmental and judicial proceedings. 

(20) The conferring of the rights of citizenship on aliens 
without regard to length of residence or intelligence. 

(21) The arming of all so-called "toilers," and the disarming 
of all persons that had succeeded in acquiring property. 

(22) The discrimination in favor of residents of cities and 
against residents of the rural districts through giving residents 
of cities five times as much voting power as is accorded to resi- 
dents of rural districts in such elections as are permitted. 

124529—19552 



15 



(23) The disfranchisement of all persons employing any other 
person in connection with their business. 

(24) The disfranchisement of all persons receiving rent, inter- 
est, or dividends. 

(25) The disfranchisement of all merchants, traders, and 
commercial agents. 

(26) The disfranchisement of all priests, clergymen, or em- 
ployees of churches and religious bodies. 

(27) The denial of the existence of any inalienable rights in 
the individual citizen. 

(28) The establishment of a judicial system exercising auto- 
cratic power, convicting persons and imposing penalties in their 
absence, and without opportunity to be heard, and even adopt- 
ing the death penalty for numerous crimes and misdemeanors. 

(29) The inauguration of a reign of fear, terrorism, and 
violence. 

This is the program that the revolutionary elements and the 
so-called " parlor Bolshevists " would have this country accept 
as a substitute for the Government of the United States, which 
recognizes that " all men are created equal," and that " life, 
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness " are the inalienable rights 
of all its citizens. This is the formula they would have adopted 
to supersede the Government which was established by all the 
people of the United States " in order to form a more perfect 
union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity." and " pro- 
mote the general welfare." The mere recital of the program is a 
•sufficient denunciation of it and of the individuals and groups 
which advocate and defend it. 

During modern times the effort of civilization has been di- 
rected to lifting mankind to the highest possible level of intel- 
ligence and social and material well-being in order to attain 
the highest degree of social equality between man and man. 
For the first time since the Dark Ages has an organized govern- 
ment undertaken to invoke a process of equalization by 
establishing as the basis of social equality the minimum rather 
than the maximum degree of existing educational, industrial, 
social, and moral efficiency, yet such is the policy of the Bol- 
shevik government. It recognizes that the psychology of even 
the most illiterate elements of the Russian people is such that 
it can .not perpetuate this doctrine in practice unless the same 
reactionary methods of equalization are simultaneously destroy- 
ing the social fabric, the efficiency, the individual initiative, the 
ambition, and the material prosperity of the people of all other 
nations, whose competition and accomplishments would neces- 
sarily result in odious and destructive comparisons. Not con- 
tent therefore in fathering in Russia this retrograde method of 
establishing the equality of mankind on the basis of the lowest 
strata of society, it has undertaken to arouse in the United 
States and in all other countries resentment, rancor, and hatred 
against those elements of society which have, by reason of their 
aptitude, perseverance, industry, and thrift attained that su- 
perior degree of intelligence and prosperity that has made 
possible the accomplishments of twentieth century civilization. 
The effort of progressing civilization has always been the up- 
lifting of man to a higher and higher plane of living and a 
loftier place in society. 

The activities of the Bolsheviki constitute a complete repudia- 
tion of modern civilization and the promulgation of the doctrine 
124529 — 19552 



1G 



that the best attainment of the most backward member of society 
shall be the level at which mankind shall find its filial and 
victorious goal. The pulling down of the progressive rather 
than the lifting up of the retrogressive is presented as the doc- 
trine of their new kind of civilization. To carry this mes- 
sage to the uttermost parts of the earth they have appropriated 
enormous sums of money, and, incidentally, their process of 
equalization in Russia was promoted by the starvation which 
the funds thus expended might have been utilized to alleviate. 
Their messengers and their friends have afflicted this country, 
and their new civilization has been represented as Utopian in 
its nature. Many well-disposed persons have been deceived into 
the belief that they were promoting a social welfare movement 
in advocating it. They have even given their substance that it 
might be perpetuated and extended. Yet, while these people 
who have been popular called " parlor Bolshevists " are con- 
tributing to these " Bolshevik agents, these same agents are 
appealing to the hatred and the lowest instincts of. the more 
ignorant elements of the population, reinforced by the crimi- 
nally inclined, to whom the doctrine of confiscation furnished a 
form of legalized robbery and a means of livelihood without 
physical or mental effort, to rise en masse and destroy our 
civilization and the so-called bourgeoise. with whom, of course, 
must be classed these same " parlor Bolshevists " who are 
assisting, by lending funds and respectability to the movement, 
in bringing the temple down upon their own heads. 

It is significant, however, that in the United States only a 
portion of the so-called radical revolutionary groups and or- 
ganizations accept in its entirety the doctrine of the Bolsheviki. 
They have, however, all seized upon Bolshevism as a rallying 
cry and are undertaking to unite all of these elements under that 
banner for the purpose of accomplishing the initial step in their 
common formula, to wit, the overthrow of existing govern- 
mental institutions and the complete demoralization of modern 
society. With this accomplished each group hopes that it can 
muster sufficient strength to maintain a supremacy in the new 
social order and invoke the policies of its particular creed. Most 
of these groups accept the common ground that forcible, as dis- 
tinguished from political, action should be used as the instru- 
ment to secure the overthrow of the present government and in 
so doing defy and repudiate the democratic form of government 
which guarantees under our Constitution the rule of the ma- 
jority. Like the Bolsheviki in Russia, these groups recognize in 
the destruction of life, property, and personal security the neces- 
sary preliminary to the establishment of a government founded 
upon the violence of the minority. They realize that riot, dis- 
order, and hunger breed hatred, blood lust, and desperation, and 
that without these mankind can not be driven to the use of 
force to accomplish an end attainable by lawful and peaceable 
political methods under the existing government. 

The radical revolutionary elements in this country and the 
Bolshevik government of Russia have, therefore, found a com- 
mon cause in support of which they can unite their forces. 
They are both fanning the flame of discontent and endeavoring 
to incite revolution. Numerous newspapers are openly advo- 
cating revolution. Literature and circular matter demanding 
a resort to violence are being widely circulated. Bombs and 

1H4529 — 19552 



IT 



high explosives have been used in many parts of the country in 
an attempt to inaugurate a reign of terror and to accomplish the 
assassination of public officials. The demonstration of the con- 
sequences of this movement in Russia, no matter how graphic 
the description, is a distant, far-away picture to the average 
citizen of the United States. While entertaining and perhaps 
amusing him, much as the novel in modern fiction does, it fails 
to impress him as an actual existing institution, in a world 
growing smaller and smaller through the accomplishments in 
transportation and communication, that must be considered and 
met as an actuality. To understand and realize its real conse- 
quences it must be brought home to the citizen and applied to 
the life and institutions which he knows. 

With a view, therefore, of concretely illustrating just what 
this new social order would accomplish if transplanted into the 
political, educational, industrial, and religious life of the United 
States attention is invited to the following unavoidable conse- 
quences : 

1. The application of force and violence, the shedding of blood 
and the destruction of life and property, the common incidents 
of all revolutions, and all this to destroy a democratic form of 
government, under which the majority can secure just the kind 
of government that it desires. The advocacy of revolutionary 
methods is an admission, therefore, that minority rather than 
majority rule is the goal sought to be attained. 

2. To make possible the control of the minority as the dic- 
tators of the majority, the disfranchisement of millions of sub- 
stantial, patriotic citizens who would fall in the so-called 
bourgeois or capitalistic class. This would deprive of the right 
to participate in affairs of government — 

(a) Millions of farmers, merchants, and manufacturers, both 
large and small, employing persons in the conduct of their busi- 
ness, and all professional and business men utilizing the services 
of a clerk, bookkeeper, or stenographer. 

(b) All persons receiving interest on borrowed money or 
bonds, rent from real estate or personal property, and dividends 
from stock of any kind. 

(c) All traders, merchants, and dealers, even though they do 
not employ another person in the conduct of their business. 

(d) All preachers, priests, janitors, and employees of all 
churches and religious bodies. 

It is apparent with the millions of persons falling into these 
several classes, disfranchised and deprived of all right to par- 
ticipate in the affairs of government, accompanied with the 
immediate enfranchisement of all aliens who do not fall within 
these prohibited classes, and the opening of the doors of all 
prisons and penitentiaries, the domination of the criminal and 
most undesirable alien elements of the country would be a com- 
paratively easy matter. To simplify the question of this con- 
trol, however, the substantial rural portion of the population 
would be further suppressed and restricted, and under the revo- 
lutionary formula the voting power of the cities would be five 
times as great as that of the rural communities, the ratio of 
representation in cities being 1 to every 25,000 of the popula- 
tion, while that of the rural districts would be only 1 to every 
125,000 of the population. In the United States the rural popu- 
lation under the 1910 census was considerably in excess of the 
124529—19552 



18 



urban. We must also remember that the application of the 
formula would include the disarming of all disfranchised classes, 
and the arming to the teeth of these criminal and alien ele- 
ments. 

3. It would result in the confiscation by the Government thus 
constituted of the land of the United States, including 6,361,502 
farms, of which 62.1 per cent, or 3,948,722 farms, are owned in 
fee by the farmers who cultivate them and represent the labor 
and toil of a lifetime. On the farms of the United States there - 
are improvements, machinery, and live stock to the value of 
$40,991,449,090 (census of 1910), all of which would be confis- 
cated with the land. The confiscation program would include 
the more than 275,000 manufacturing establishments, including 
the $22,790,980,000 of invested capital, much of which is owned 
by the small investor, whose livelihood depends upon the suc- 
cess of the respective enterprises. The confiscation would also 
include 203,432 church edifices. Forests aggregating 555,000,- 
000 acres would be seized by the government and an annual 
product of $1,375,000,000 would come under the control of the 
dictatorship. Dwellings to the number of 17,805,845, of which 
9,093,675 are owned in fee, with 5,984,248 entirely free from 
debt, would be confiscated and the owners dispossessed at the 
pleasure of the government. 

4. Although clamoring loudly for a free and unrestricted press 
the revolutionary program would require the seizure and confis- 
cation of the 22,896 newspapers and periodicals in the United 
States, together with all mechanical equipment necessary for 
their publication, and a control and ownership of the public 
press by the government. 

5. Complete control of all banking institutions and their as- 
sets is an essential part of the revolutionary program, and the 
31,492 banks in the United States would be taken over by the 
government and the savings of millions, including 11,397,553 
depositors drawing interest on accounts in savings banks, and 
consequently belonging to the so-called bourgeois or capitalistic 
class, jeopardized. 

6. One of the most appalling and far-reaching consequences 
of an application of Bolshevism in the United States would be 
found in the confiscation and liquidation of its life insurance 
companies. There is 20 per cent more life insurance in force 
in this country than in all the rest of the world and nine-tenths 
of it is mutual insurance. Almost 50,000,000 life insurance poli- 
cies representing nearly $30,000,000,000 of insurance, the sub- 
stantial protection of the women and children of the Nation- 
would be rendered valueless. 

7. The atheism that permeates the whole Russian dictatorship 
is clearly reflected in the activities of their revolutionary con- 
freres in the United States and in their publications they have 
denounced our religion and our God as " lies." This gives added 
significance to the revolutionary attitude toward the Christian 
Church and the Christian religion. The prohibition of reli- 
gious schools and the teaching or studying of religion, except in 
private, would necessitate the abolition of 194,759 Sunday 
schools in the United States and a great number of seminaries, 
colleges, and universities; 19,935,890 Sunday school scholars 
would be deprived and prevented from enjoying the institution 
that has become an important part of their lives and is one of 

124529—19552 



11) 



the great moral influences of the Nation. Catholic schools, col- 
leges, and seminaries to the number of 6,681 would be suppressed. 
Church property of the value of $1,676,600,582, would be confis- 
cated and 41.926,854 (census of 1916) members of 227,487 church 
organizations would be subjected to the domination of an atheist 
dictatorship. 

Notwithstanding the fact that every champion and defender 
of Bolshevism that testified before your committee unequivocally 
admitted that the Bolshevik formula was not adaptable to the 
economic and social life of the United States, they and their 
coevangelists persist in their appeals to the passion of the people 
in an attempt to provoke discontent and hatred. In cooperation 
with the revolutionary elements, destruction of existing social 
and governmental institutions by violent methods is being pro- 
moted. They must, therefore, be condemned as the mere cham- 
pions of discontent and disorder, offering no practical and accept- 
able ideal, as they profess to have, with which to soften and ap- 
pease the wrath that they are undertaking to arouse. 

GENERAL STATEMENT AND OTHER RECOMMENDATIONS. 

The testimony taken before this committee having been printed, 
a further review thereof is deemed unnecessary. A careful 
consideration of this record discloses certain well-defined abuses, 
prejudicial to the best interests of the Nation and calculated to 
undermine and destroy our form of government. The Nation 
having engaged in the greatest war in history with the purpose 
of saving the world for democracy, now emerges from that 
struggle confronted with the paramount duty of preserving 
democracy for the world. 

The disclosures before this committee concerned (a) the 
political activities of the liquor interests in their effort to control 
and dominate elections and public officials, (b) the propaganda of 
the agents, representatives, and sympathizers of a foreign gov- 
ernment, the form of which and whose purposes, industrial, 
commercial, and political, were incompatible with and antago- 
nistic to the form, ideals, and purposes of the Government of 
the United States, and (c) Bolshevism as it exists in Russia 
and the activities of its champions in the country. No useful 
purpose is to be served by reviewing and recounting the repre- 
hensible activities of either of the elements whose conduct has 
been the subject matter of this inquiry. A perusal of the testi- 
mony furnishes adequate evidence of it. This testimony em- 
bodies such an exposure of all of these elements as to justify 
fully the investigation. 

The activities brought to the attention of the committee are 
so startling, however, that we believe that the real advantage 
of the inquiry will be lost unless Congress profits from the 
knowledge thus obtained by undertaking by appropriate legis- 
lation to make impossible a repetition of these activities, either 
on the part of the offenders who have been *nder investigation, 
and many of whose activities are still continuing, or by others 
who at some future time may seek to undermine the Government 
or pervert the popular will by the adoption of similar methods 
against which the Federal statutes seem to provide no adequate 
safeguard. 

With this end in view, therefore, this committee invites at- 
tention to certain abuses which are clearly established by the 

124529—19552 



20 



record of its hearings and a summary of proposed legislation, 
the immediate adoption of which it earnestly recommends. 

I. 

That millions of dollars have been expended in elections, in 
connection with which Federal officers were voted for by special 
interests through organizations of their own creatiou and by 
methods of their own adoption. That secrecy has surrounded 
these expenditures and the activities thereby induced. That the 
publicity and accounting sought for all political expenditures by 
the corrupt-practices acts of the Federal and the several State 
Governments has been largely defeated. That the Federal 
iorrupt-practices statutes are entirely inadequate to meet present- 
day political methods and are easily evaded without involving 
a violation of the statute. Any effective corrupt-practices act 
must provide — 

( 1 ) For full publicity of all receipts and expenditures intended 
to influence in any way the result of an election. 

(2) To bring under legal control and supervision every com- 
mittee and organization participating in a political activity. 

(3) To perpetuate and preserve for a reasonable time a com- 
plete record of the financial transactions of all individuals, 
candidates, committees, and organizations. 

(4) To define clearly the purposes and activities for which 
money can be legally expended. 

(5) To require publicity that will unequivocally fix respon- 
sibility for all paid and inspired advertising or publicity matter 
used and intended either openly or secretly to affect the result of 
an election. 

II. 

Newspapers printed in both English and foreign languages 
have been subsidized directly and indirectly for the purpose of 
undertaking to influence the minds, thoughts, and actions of the 
people of the United States without disclosing in any way the 
commercial or political influence financially interested. It is of 
great importance that every facility should be afforded to all 
elements of society and to every commercial, industrial, social, 
religious, and educational interest to present openly and frankly 
its views on every subject not aimed at the impairment of the 
sovereignty of the Nation or in disparagement of our form of 
government as established by the Constitution. But as the 
right to present these various contentions should be preserved 
as inalienable, so the public to whom the appeal is made have 
an inalienable right to know and to be advised as to who is the 
spokesman of a given cause. Newspapers have become such an 
educational medium that the public should be afforded an ample 
opportunity to know just who their instructors are. 

The act of Congress of August 24, 1912, undertook to accom- 
plish this, but in the light of experience it is now clearly estab- 
lished that this act is inadequate. It permits of the adoption of ' 
many subterfuges by which its purpose is defeated though its 
spirit is violated without the commission of a legal breach of its 
prohibitions. 

It is the opinion of this committee that this act should be 
amended and made more effective in several important par- 
ticulars. 

124529 — 19552 



21 



Ml. 

The foreign-language press of the country as now conducted 
has the effect and in many instances is inspired with the pur- 
pose of discouraging the assimilation of the foreign elements 
with the American people and has heen utilized by special in- 
terests for political and propaganda purposes. The financial 
condition of many of these newspapers has made them the easy 
and cheap victims of designing persons and interests whose 
financial advantage is best secured by retarding the Americani- 
zation of the alien and limiting him to the use of the foreign- 
language paper as his sole source of information. The foreign- 
language press exerts a greater influence upon its readers than 
an English newspaper does because of the limited educational 
facilities of the persons who can only read and talk in such 
foreign tongues, and consequently the subsidization and domina- 
tion of this press is proportionately more vicious in its effects 
than similar practices would be in the case of English news- 
papers. 

The experience of the last few years has clearly demonstrated 
the necessity of Americanizing the residents of this country, 
and especially those who from time, to time are assuming the 
responsibility of citizenship. The aliens now residing within 
our borders or hereafter immigrating to our shores must either 
be assimilated by the Americans or they will be held together 
in their several nativistic groups, each group adhering to its 
own language and customs, with the consequent adherence, 
either consciously or unconsciously, to the land of their nativity. 
While it must be recognized that during the time when they are 
merely the guests of this Nation a knowledge of their native 
language is all that can be expected, the Government is justified 
in requiring that before their status is changed to one of citizen- 
ship and before they can be permitted to participate in the 
government of the United States there should be some evidence 
at least of a purpose on their part toward that assimilation 
which is essential to the unity of purpose and substantial ad- 
herence to our institutions necessary to the healthy develop- 
ment of the Nation. 

Foreign-language newspapers are a danger to the country 
unless they are utilized to assist in the assimilation of the alien 
element and to aid in the process of Americanization which is 
essential to the healthy development of the population into a 
homogeneous whole. This much-sought-for Americanization 
would be impeded by either depriving the alien of the educa- 
tional value of a newspaper in the only language he can read 
or by withholding from him proper aid and facility for learning 
the English language and failing to encourage him to acquire 
the educational advantages incident to the mastering of the 
language of his adopted country. With this in mind, therefore, 
the committee recommends legislation to control and regulate 
the printing of foreign-language publications in this country. 

IV. 

For a number of years prior to our entry into the World 
War agents of the German Government persistently carried on 
a great propaganda in the United States, the purpose of which 
was to promote the interests of the German Government and to 
create a sentiment in this country in favor of that Government 
124529—19552 



22 



to the prejudice of this Nation. Every activity which tended 
to weaken our Government or to arouse antagonisms that would 
demoralize the unity and morale of our population and every 
movement that was aimed at involving us in foreign disputes 
or domestic difficulties was encouraged and frequently financed 
by the agents and representatives of the German Government. 

To-day the forces of anarchy and violence are utilizing the 
financial resources plundered by them from the European peo- 
ple they have succeeded in exploiting, to import into this coun- 
try money, literature, and hired agents for the purpose of pro- 
mulgating the doctrine of force, violence, assassination, con- 
fiscation, and revolution. 

As an effect of these activities there has appeared in this 
country a large group of persons who advocate the overthrow of 
all organized government, and especially the Government of the 
United States, who favor revolutionary movements, repudiate 
the Constitution of the United States, and refuse to respect our 
national emblem and our governmental institutions. There are 
found among the leaders of this group many aliens who unhesi- 
tatingly abuse the hospitality which this country has extended 
to them and who because of that leadership are able to retard 
the real Americanization of the more ignorant residents pos- 
sessing similar racial characteristics. These persons encourage 
and maintain a solidarity of the people of the several foreign 
tongues which is used to create and incite a class hatred that 
is quickly absorbed by and incorporated into the revolutionary 
movement led by them. The alien element in this country is 
the most susceptible and is the first to adopt violence as an 
effective weapon for supremacy. 

More reprehensible than the alien element is that class of 
American citizens, whether native born or naturalized, who, 
having obligated themselves to support and defend the Consti- 
tution of the United States, lightly disregard their responsibili- 
ties and promulgate the doctrine that the form of government 
established by the Constitution should be overthrown and that 
a government responsive to a class rather than to all the peo- 
ple should be forcibly substitued therefor. It is a significant 
fact that almost without exception the persons in this country 
who are to-day advocating revolution and violence and all of 
the suffering, pain, and bloodshed incident to such a movement, 
tiave during the great struggle of the past two years undertaken 
to handicap, che?ck, and obstruct in every way possible the 
military operations of this Government under the pretext that 
their consciences would not permit them to take the life of 
their fellow men even in war. The destruction of life, property, 
and government has no horrors to them when directed toward 
the overthrow of the Government of the United States, but the 
use of force in defense of our country they conscientiously 
object to. 

Prior to the enactment of the statute of June 15, 1917, as 
amended by the statute of May 16, 1918, our Government was 
without laws adequate even to protect its own sovereignty. It 
is indeed unfortunate that this legislation should have been 
called an espionage act. Much of the complaint and criticism 
directed at this act was aimed more at the word used to desig- 
nate it than at the text of the statute. Many of the provisions 
of this act are applicable only during time of war and conse- 

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quently the restoration of peace will leave the Government of 
the United States more helpless, and because of the growth of 
the revolutionary movement as a result of the World War, more 
powerless, than it found itself prior to our entrance into that 
struggle. 

It is therefore imperative that there be enacted before the re- 
establishment of peace an act adequately protecting our national 
sovereignty and our established institutions. 

v. 

That the American people have been victimized and deceived 
by the activities of special interests and the subtle practices 
of designing individuals, some of them the agents and repre- 
sentatives of foreign governments through the use of organiza- 
tions having dignified and respectable names, which completely 
disarm all suspicion of the ulterior purposes of those who in- 
spired their organization. By the use of euphonious names 
given to supposedly patriotic, idealistic, and charitable organiza- 
tions, patriotic and philanthropic citizens have been innocent 
victims of conniving representatives of foreign interests and 
governments and have been exploited by corrupt and dishonest 
elements. The Government of the United States long ago un- 
dertook by appropriate legislation to protect society from the 
fraudulent use of the mails commercially. The public have a 
right to some protection from deception being practiced by these 
mushroom organizations that have become so common. 

No legitimate organization is ashamed of its paternity, its pur- 
poses, or its activities, and a proper registration of all voluntary 
associations or organizations appealing to the public through 
the mails for popular approval, financial support, and the prop- 
agation of its notions of government, sociology, benevolence, or 
what not is a reasonable requirement that can be utilized to 
provide some security to a much imposed-upon public ; legisla- 
tion is therefore recommended to this end. 

VI. 

Never have the Federal statutes provided adequate security 
against an unlawful and promiscuous use of high explosives. 
During the period of American neutrality, the representatives 
of the German Government, as well as many criminally in- 
clined residents of our own country, resorted to the use of ex- 
plosives for the destruction of life, property, and transportation 
facilities, and except for the provision in the interstate-com- 
merce act, which prohibited the shipping or carrying of explo- 
sives in interstate commerce, the offenses could not be reached 
by the Federal Government, and when reached under this act 
the penalties were entirely incommensurate with the offense. 
The act of Congress of October 6, 1917, entitled "An act to pro- 
hibit the manufacture, distribution, storage, use, and possession 
in time of war of explosives, providing regulations for the safe 
manufacture, distribution, storage, use, and possession of the 
same, and for other purposes," was enacted by Congress as a 
purely war statute, and becomes inoperative upon the restora- 
tion of peace. The efficacious eifects of this legislation during 
the period of the war has not only justified its enactment as a 
war statute, but has impressed upon the people of the country 
the merit of its provision in times of peace as well as in times 
of war. 

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All law-abiding persons recognize the necessity of controlling 
and regulating the manufacture, distribution, and possession of 
the instruments <r£ death and destruction relied upon by the 
criminal and lawless elements of society. The obligation of the 
Federal Government to protect the lives and property of its 
citizens would not be fully performed were Congress to permit 
the act of October 6, 1917, to die by limitation without enacting 
in its place a peace-time measure. 

The committee wishes to again express its thanks to Maj. 
Humes, Capt. Lester, and Mr. Benham for their untiring zeal 
and great ability in aiding the committee in securing the great 
mass of testimony which, in our opinion, will be most useful to 
the public. 

All of which is respectfully submitted. 



As a member of the subcommittee I have joined in the above 
report ; but while agreeing with many of the statements and* 
recommendations appearing on pages 43 to 48, inclusive, I desire 
to state that I am not in full accord with all the committee's 
recomendations. 



Lee S. Overman, Chairman. 



William H. King, 
josiah o. wolcott, 
Knute Nelson. 



Thomas Sterling. 



William H. King. 



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